On July 24, 2019, Senate bill 383 became Act 629, allowing school districts to create their own on-campus police departments. After meeting a list of requirements, and with the approval and support of the HSSD School Board, Superintendent Dr. Stephanie Nehus and Officer Carl Seymour went before the Arkansas CLEST to have the district’s request reviewed and approved on October 10, 2019. 

Chief Carl Seymour serves as Chief of the HSSD Institutional Law Enforcement Team. Officer Means works full-time as a Law Enforcement Officer on the team. Officer Langford works through a Joint Use Agreement with the Hot Springs Police Department, which ensures that our partnership and collaboration with HSPD remains strong. All three officers are fully certified Law Enforcement Officers and are charged with protecting and serving Trojan students, staff, and guests at all campuses to the full extent of the law.

Our top priority is that we have a locking mechanism on all external doors to buildings, which ensures that our doors remain locked at all times. All exterior doors are only accessed via key cards, which are provided solely to HSSD staff members. All visitors to all campuses must enter through designated front entrances, and must first report to the office and front office staff to receive a Visitor’s Tag and complete a formal check-in procedure.

It is also part of HSSD Safety Policy that classroom doors (at all schools) are shut and locked at all times.This is inspected multiple times each day by Law Enforcement Officers and our Administrative Team. 

HSSD has purchased two-way digital radios for all Law Enforcement Officers, Administrators and members of the HSSD Leadership Team, and HSSD School Bus Drivers.

Each HSSD campus has a School Safety Team that is lead by a School Administrator.

The Chief Institutional Law Enforcement Officer trains all HSSD staff members to utilize the Rave Panic Button App (via mobile devices) in order to communicate in the event of an emergency or crisis situation.The Rave App is used to ensure that all staff members have access to a device, no matter where they are, if an emergency takes place on campus.

The HSSD Institutional Law Enforcement Team collaborates with the Hot Springs Police Department on campuses to host annual training for emergency and/or crisis events.